


On Your Left

by FlyingShadow09



Series: Balancing Acts [3]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, The Incredible Hulk (2008), The Incredible Hulk - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - BDSM, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-13
Updated: 2015-09-13
Packaged: 2018-04-20 14:19:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,588
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4790447
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlyingShadow09/pseuds/FlyingShadow09
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Steve's been struggling lately.  He's a dom from WWII who was suddenly thrust into the new century two years ago.  He was dealing with everything pretty well until Delta Team found Bucky <em>alive</em> in  a HYDRA compound.  Steve stopped worrying about what he needed an focused all his time and energy on Bucky (a sub who had always pretended to be a Dominant Switch). </p><p>When Steve's behavior became erratic it became clear that he needed to take a step back and maybe even a break from Avenging.  He and his bonded sub Bruce travel to Washington D.C. to take a vacation and give Steve the opportunity to learn how to deal with his own issues.  Only to find out nothing at SHIELD is as it seems and that a new battle for the freedom of earth must be fought.</p><p>Can be read without reading the rest of the Series.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Your Left

Bruce stared out the window of the plane and reflected an the events that had led them here as he and Steve waited for the plane to land in Washington D.C.  Everything had seemed to go to hell in a hand basket lately. When Phil had let the Delta team in the take down of a secure HYDRA base and discovered Bucky about a year ago Steve had been so excited.  Bruce had been happy for his Dom to get his friend back.  He had thought that having his friend back would give Steve peace of mind, not drive him crazy.

Everyone knew that Bucky Barnes was a Dominant Switch (a Dom that felt the need to submit 2-3 times a year), but HYDRA had forced him to submit whenever he was out of Cryo for the last 70 years.  The man was understandably traumatized and needed Steve to take care of him nearly 24/7 for about 5 months.  Bruce had been fine with that, in fact he had encouraged Steve!  However, even though Bucky improved by leaps and bounds during those five months, Steve couldn't let go of the need to dominate his friend.

Three days ago everything had come to a head and Steve's poor behavior had resulted in Bucky experiencing a forced-drop.  Luckily Tony had been there to take care of Bucky.  Experiencing a safe drop with a dom present (something he had not done since pre-WWII days) gave Bucky confidence to stand up to Steve.  He told Steve he didn't want to be called "Bucky" and live in the shadow of the memory of the man he once was; he wanted to be called "James" and learn to celebrate the man he was now.  Steve had completely refused to do as James asked him to.

Things had gotten so bad that Tony had felt the need to "ground" Steve to the private floor that Steve and Bruce shared.  Phil ended up calling an Avengers "family meeting" so that Steve's erratic and borderline abusive behavior towards James could be addressed.  When it came time for the meeting two people were absent: Tony and James.

**~~~**

"JARVIS, where are Tony and James?" Phil asked when it was five minutes passed the set meeting time and everyone was sitting around silently waiting for the family meeting to begin.

"Mr. James requested that he and Sir start their date early," the AI informed in an even tone, "He did however leave me with a message to give, shall I relay that message now?"

Bruce could see anger in Steve's eyes, but he didn't say anything.  This was a marked improvement on recent behavior.  Whenever Tony spent any time with James Steve would usually become enraged and begin to yell about Tony trying to take advantage of James.  Tony was a proponent of Sub rights and had actually founded to advocacy groups aimed to help subs so it was very unlikely the even tempered dom would do such a thing.  Additionally, Clint, a Dominant Switch, and his sub Phil both used Tony to help them drop when necessary and the thing they liked best about dropping with Tony was that the dom was a caregiver that always let the sub lead the drops.  Still, Steve was determined (for reasons no one could really understand) to always think the worst of Tony.  The fact that Steve was either trying to keep an open mind or just keeping those thoughts to himself, his lack of reaction to the news that Tony and James had evidently decided to skip the family meeting to go on a date was definitely a good sign.

**~~~**

Bruce was proud of the progress Steve had managed to make in the past three days.  The night before the family meeting Bruce had reminded his dom that before Bucky had been found the two of them had been planning a trip to visit Washington D.C.   He thought that such a trip would give Steve time away to focus on whatever had been going on with him lately.  The Steve he'd bonded with was not the Steve who had been around lately and Bruce was worried that there was something more going on with his Dom.

\-----

Steve sat next to Bruce on the plane and grabbed his sub's hand as it was taking off.  Bruce was his rock, and Steve knew he had been taking his patient and calm sub for granted lately.  He knew this trip was necessary to save their relationship from the damage his neglect caused.  He had never meant to hurt either of the most important people in his life: Bruce and Buc-no-James.  All he seemed to do was hurt them lately as the message James had left proved.

**~~~**

"Please relay the message JARVIS, then the rest of us will talk," Phil told the AI.

Suddenly, Bucky's voice began to emanate through the room: "Everyone, I have some announcements to make.  Firstly, I've been lying to you.  I'm not a Dominant Switch, I'm actually a Sub.  When Steve and I were growing up Submissives didn't have any rights so Steve helped me to lie.  I was afraid to let anyone know because part of me still thinks like I'm in the thirties.  I was also afraid to drop with anyone because I'd never really liked dropping, and then everything with HYDRA...I just couldn't do it anymore.  Spending my force-drop with Tony helped me realize that there are safe people out there, you just have to find the right person.  Clint told me that months ago and I just wasn't ready to believe him.

"Secondly, I don't want to be called 'Bucky' anymore.  I want to be called 'James'  I want to learn to like myself for who I am now, instead of always feeling like I'm failing at being someone that I don't even really remember.  I'm not sure I can ever be the person Steve wants me to be, I'm not sure the Bucky Steve remembers ever really existed.  Sometimes I think that Steve remembers some idealized perfect Bucky and others I feel like I'm just failing.  I don't want to keep failing at being Bucky, I want to succeed at being James.

"Thirdly, I want to be treated with respect.  Lately everything seems to be decided without any input from me.  I know this isn't everyone's fault.  Steve has been bullying everyone into doing things his way and everyone just kinda let him decide my daily routine and what I'm going to do when and what I'm going to eat.  Tony showed me that I could make choices when I was dropped, surely I should be able to make choices when I'm clear headed too.

"Finally, if anyone is worried.  It really was my idea to skip this meeting.  I'm not really feeling up to participating.  Tony asked me out on a lunch date last night and I said yes.  He even offered to make it a double date if that would make me more comfortable and let me decided what kind of food we'd be eating.  I didn't want the meeting to ruin the mood for our date so I asked him to play hooky with me.

"Actually, one more thing! Steve, you need to start treating Bruce the way he should be treated.  By spending all your time controlling my life you've been neglecting him.  Hell, I can't recall you ever taking him out just the two of you.  Quit worrying about me, I'm doing better everyday.  I have all the Avengers on my side, I know you like to take the weight of the world on your shoulders, but you are part of a team, share the load."

**~~~**

As the flight attendant gave her speech on safety procedures Steve realized what everyone had been trying to tell him lately.  She said when the oxygen masks dropped down you needed to put yours on first because if you passed out you wouldn't be able to help everyone else.  Steve had been so focused on helping Bucky he had stopped dealing with his own issues and insecurities.  He stopped dealing with all the problems suddenly waking up in a new century then almost immediately battling aliens brought.

Bruce squeezed his hand and Steve met his sub's eyes and they shared a small smile between them.  Hopefully Bruce was right, Steve needed to take a step back from the situation.  After James' message Steve had broken down and Bruce had rubbed his back while the other Avengers just watch.  Steve finally got it together long enough to t tell Bruce that he was right and that it was time for them to go on the trip that they had been planning before he'd gotten so caught up with Buck-James.

The other Avengers agreed it was a good idea and they began to pack.  Steve ordered tickets for the next week.  He'd spent the week trying to apologize to James who didn't seem to believe him.  They'd still hugged each other hard when it came time for Steve to leave.  Steve stamped down the worry when James stepped back to lean into Tony.  He didn't really know Tony and he had no right to accuse the other man of trying to hurt James, especially since he had never seen James as relaxed as he was when Tony was holding him.

The plan took off and Steve leaned back in his chair.  This trip to Washington D.C. was just what he needed. 

**Author's Note:**

> I am a teacher and often have limited time to update stories. I prioritize my stories based on the number of comments in the most recent chapter of each story. The one with the most comments gets updated first and so on.
> 
> So...
> 
> Comments=Motivation=Quicker Updates


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